This is the interior of the window in our foyer. It is covered in a film of heavy condensation, and it looks like this pretty much every morning for 6 - 8 months a year. This is why we think about mildew a lot down here. And why we have such nice, moist skin!
I don't pay attention to the humidity too terribly much since we live with it every day, although I have learned strategically to plan shampoos for the least-frizzy time of day. Then, this morning, a friend who made a quick business trip to New Orleans from Sacramento, called to let me know that her plane leaves at 2:00 so she couldn't do the "windshield disaster tour" after all. (That's where I give my special guided tour through the City and areas that are still recovering from the Katrina floods in my sweet ride).
In a carefully-measured voice, she told me, "It's so -- um -- muggy here." I think that's trying-to-be-nice California-speak for, "Dang! You can barely breathe here unless you have gills, and don't even think about trying to get your hair to cooperate!" She also said that since she grew up in the Midwest, she previously thought she knew what "humid" means. I just giggled.
Then I welcomed her to Moogie's World.
The condensation is usually gone by noon-ish, and the humidity levels drop enough so that the uninitiated can venture outdoors without SCUBA gear. She'll miss the best part of the day for sightseeing, but she promised to come back so she can see the buildings from Brad Pitt's "Make It Right Project" in the lower Ninth Ward.
Her observations made me think, though. We live in a truly big country -- one in which the folks who dwell on the edges don't really comprehend how the folks live and play in the middle -- and vice versa. We're a confederation of distinctions; a Republic of varying wants, needs, and interests.
If styling one's hair differs so much from region to region, how can we expect any one-size-fits-all federal program to work nationwide? I'm thinking it can't, with any equitable outcome. Now what?
Ya know... being a veteran of three assignments of varying durations at Keesler Airplane Patch, just up the road a short 90 miles or so from N'Awlins, I STILL have memories of heat, humidity and bugs. And they ain't fond memories, either... especially that first assignment back in '63 - '64 wherein I literally "sweated out" the summer in an UN-air-conditioned barracks. But the upside was at least ONE weekend a month in your fair city... and all THOSE memories are great. Mebbe even beyond "great," LOL!
ReplyDeleteRemembering all the humidity we had in Mobile...just down the road a piece from New Orleans.Can't say that I miss it.
ReplyDeleteNo way can the government provide health care with ANY good outcome.